CAPITAL REGION ALMANAC.(CAPITAL REGION)

This almanac of community news provides coverage of local governments, local courts and police calls from selected communities in our region. Government listings focus on communities in Albany County, and police calls are taken from the actual police blotters from larger communities throughout the area. This feature usually appears on this page Mondays through Saturdays. P B April 20 10:20 p.m. ASSAULT. A woman, 36, of Lark Drive, allegedly assaulted her daughter and threw a television on the floor.

11:30 p.m. CRIMINAL MISCHIEF. A man, 21, of Brooklyn, allegedly damaged a vehicle.

11:44 p.m. CRIMINAL MISCHIEF. A man, 34, from the 300 block of Livingston Avenue, allegedly jumped on the hood of a tow truck and damaged it.

April 23 1:25 a.m. ASSAULT. A woman, 36, of Manning Boulevard, was charged after allegedly punching a victim.

April 24 3:45 p.m. ASSAULT. A man, 37, from the 400 block of Elk Street, allegedly struck a female.

4:54 p.m. PETIT LARCENY. A woman, 31, of First …

Thai telecom True Corp. sells 398 million shares overnight in global tender.

Dec. 3--True Corporation said yesterday that it had successfully restructured its debt through a private placement of 398 million ordinary shares at 6.80 baht each.

Of the total shares sold to institutional investors, True said it offered 173.9 million to the Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group), one of its major shareholders, representing 43.69 percent of total shares sold.

The purchase by the CP Group will maintain its shareholding in the fixed-line telephone, cellular and broadband company at 43.69 percent. The German development bank KfW, another major True shareholder, did not purchase additional shares.

True said the transaction was executed as an …

State budget cuts decimate mental health services

DENVER (AP) — Budget writers in U.S. states looking for cash to balance the books have stripped a cumulative $1.8 billion from mental health services over the last 2½ years, putting the public at risk as the mentally ill crowd emergency rooms and prisons, according to the nation's largest mental health advocacy group.

The Washington-based National Alliance on Mental Illness tallied state budget cuts to mental health services between 2008 and today and found that 32 states and Washington, D.C., cut funding just as economic stressors such as layoffs and home foreclosures boosted demand for services.

California slashed funding by more than $587 million, or 16 percent. Kentucky …

A look at the year in risk management news.

JANUARY:

* ACE Ltd. agrees to pay $3.5 billion to buy CIGNA's Corp. domestic property/casualty operations. The deal will give ACE a large U.S. and

international platform to build on, while CIGNA sheds problems with its property/ casualty operations to focus on its large and profitable health insurance business.

* Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. announces that Jeffrey Greenberg will become chief executive officer at the end of the year and chairman of M&M, when A.J.C. Smith retires. Mr. Greenberg, who currently is chairman and CEO of Marsh & McLennan Capital Inc., came to M&M in 1995 after 17 years with American International Group Inc., where he had long been seen as heir apparent to his father, AIG Chairman and CEO Maurice R. Greenberg.

* J&H Marsh & McLennan Inc. reaches an agreement with the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc. to disclose, when asked by risk managers, the fees it receives from insurance companies. The move helps end the controversy over contingent commissions that had seized the market in 1998.

FEBRUARY:

* XL Capital Ltd. merges with NAC Re Corp. for $1.2 billion, leaving the Bermuda company well positioned to expand its U.S. insurance and reinsurance businesses. NAC Re obtains the financial backing of the highly capitalized XL, allowing it to take on bigger risks and to retain more of those risks.

* Chubb Corp. offers to buy Executive Risk Inc. for $850 million. The deal, completed in August, gives Executive Risk access to Chubb's extensive distribution system and broader range of property/casualty insurance products, and allows Chubb to strengthen its position in the directors and officers liability and …

Pioneering pleasures of Patagonia; Remote region in Chile is an adventurer's paradise.(Travel-Books)

Byline: CAROLYN McCARTHY King Features Syndicate

Chile's northern Patagonia is a thin strip of lush valleys, pummeled by Pacific storms into a thorny green. Its pioneers began to trickle in almost a century ago, crossing rivers and mountain passes on ox carts laden with iron wood stoves. Today humble farms dot the shores of turquoise rivers, linked by trails. Though unenviable transit routes, these horse paths make excellent trekking and riding circuits.

For pioneering travelers today, reaching this remote region requires navigating prickly logistics and weather closures with saintly patience. But the rewards are equally great. You get to travel back in time, to inhabit your great-grandpa's tales - but now as a protagonist.

Here are three favorite …

Green chemistry using liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide.(Book Review)

Green chemistry using liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide Joseph DeSimone and William Tumas (eds) Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003 Pages 259 90.99 [pounds sterling] ISBN 0 19 515483 5

Green chemistry, like a growing child, is experiencing a number of radical life changes; like all teenagers, as it matures it is shouting loudly to make its opinions heard. In a similar way, the established chemical community is now looking for tangible returns from its rapidly maturing offspring. In response to the demands of the wider scientific community, books ranging from general introductions for the non-specialist to in-depth monographs on specific areas of research are becoming increasingly available.

Green chemistry as a scientific discipline is, in general, based around a set of guidelines that aid technologists in the development of environmentally sustainable chemical processes. The Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry, originally proposed by Paul Anastas (recently appointed director of the American Chemical Society's Green Chemistry Institute), …

San Jose, Perez rip Miami in Cal. Bowl

Quarterback Mike Perez, showing no ill effects from a shoulderseparation, threw three touchdown passes to pace the San Jose StateSpartans to a 37-7 victory over Miami of Ohio yesterday in theCalifornia Bowl at Fresno, Calif.

Perez, who led the nation in total offense this season with anaverage of 330 yards a game, nearly matched that with 291 yards on 21pass completions in 37 attempts.

Miami's hopes of matching San Jose's high-powered offense weredashed as quarterback Terry Morris was intercepted four times.

Perez missed the final two regular season games with the injury.

The Spartans (10-2) earned the third straight victory by aPacific Coast …